Wikipedia
Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in loch, broch or saugh (willow).
| Voiceless velar fricative | |
|---|---|
| x | |
| IPA Number | 140 |
| Audio sample | |
source · help | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | x |
| Unicode (hex) | U+0078 |
| X-SAMPA | x |
| Braille | |
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨x⟩, the Latin letter x. It is also used in broad transcription instead of the symbol ⟨χ⟩, the Greek chi, for the voiceless uvular fricative.
There is also a voiceless post-velar fricative (also called pre-uvular) in some languages, which can be transcribed as [x̠] or [χ̟]. For voiceless pre-velar fricative (also called post-palatal), see voiceless palatal fricative.
Features
Features of the voiceless velar fricative:
- Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
- Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Varieties
| IPA | Description |
|---|---|
| x | plain velar fricative |
| xʷ | labialised |
| xʼ | ejective |
| xʷʼ | ejective labialised |
| x̜ʷ | semi-labialised |
| x̹ʷ | strongly labialised |
| xʲ | palatalised |
| xʲʼ | ejective palatalised |
Occurrence
The voiceless velar fricative and its labialized variety are postulated to have occurred in Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of the Germanic languages, as the reflex of the Proto-Indo-European voiceless palatal and velar stops and the labialized voiceless velar stop. Thus Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥nom "horn" and *kʷód "what" became Proto-Germanic *hurnan and *hwat, where *h and *hw were likely [x] and [xʷ]. This sound change is part of Grimm's law.
In Modern Greek, the voiceless velar fricative (with its allophone the voiceless palatal fricative [ç], occurring before front vowels) originated from the Ancient Greek voiceless aspirated stop /kʰ/ in a sound change that lenited Greek aspirated stops into fricatives.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abaza | хьзы | [xʲzə] | 'name' | ||
| Adyghe | хы | [xəː] (help·info) | 'six' | ||
| Albanian | gjuha | [ɟuxɑ] | 'language' | Allophone of /h/. See Albanian phonology | |
| Aleut | Atkan dialect | alax | [ɑlɑx] | 'two' | |
| Arabic | Modern Standard | ﺧﻀراء | [xadˤraːʔ] | 'green' (f.) | May be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect.[1] See Arabic phonology |
| Assamese | অসমীয়া | [ɔxɔmia] | 'Assamese' | ||
| Assyrian | ܚܡܫܐ ḳemša | [xεmʃa] | 'five' | ||
| Avar | чeхь / ҫeẋ | [tʃex] | 'belly' | ||
| Azerbaijani | xoş / хош/ﺧﻮش | [xoʃ] | 'pleasant' | ||
| Basque | Some speakers[2] | jan | [xän] | 'to eat' | Either velar or post-velar.[2] For other speakers it's [j ~ ʝ ~ ɟ].[3] |
| Brahui[4] | ﺧﻦ | [xan] | 'eye' | Corresponds to /x/ in Kurukh and /q/ in Malto. | |
| Breton | hor c'hi | [hor xiː] | 'our dog' | ||
| Bulgarian | тихо / tiho | [ˈt̪ixo] (help·info) | 'quietly' | Described as having "only slight friction" ([x̞]).[5] | |
| Catalan | kharja | [ˈxɑɾ(d)ʑɐ] | 'kharjah' | Found in loanwords and interjections. See Catalan phonology | |
| Chechen | хан / xan | [xɑːn] | 'time' | ||
| Chinese | Mandarin | 河 / hé | [xɤ˧˥] | 'river' | See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Czech | chlap | [xlap] | 'guy' | See Czech phonology | |
| Danish | Southern Jutlandic | kage | [ˈkʰaːx] | 'cake' | See Sønderjysk dialect |
| Dutch | Standard Belgian[6][7] | acht | [ɑxt] | 'eight' | May be post-palatal [ç̠] instead. In dialects spoken above the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Waal the corresponding sound is a postvelar-uvular fricative trill [ʀ̝̊˖].[7] See Dutch phonology |
| Southern Netherlands accents[7][8] | |||||
| English | Scottish | loch | [ɫɔx] | 'loch' | Younger speakers may merge this sound with /k/.[9][10] See Scottish English phonology |
| Irish | lough | [ɫɔx] | 'lough' | Occurs in Gaelic borrowings only. See Irish English phonology | |
| Scouse[11] | book | [bʉːx] | 'book' | A syllable-final allophone of /k/ (lenition). | |
| Esperanto | monaĥo | [moˈnaxo] | 'monk' | See Esperanto phonology | |
| Estonian | jah | [jɑx] | 'yes' | Allophone of /h/. See Estonian phonology | |
| Eyak | duxł | [tʊxɬ] | 'traps' | ||
| Finnish | kahvi | [ˈkɑxʋi] | 'coffee' | Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology | |
| French | jota | [xɔta] | 'jota' | Occurs only in loanwords (from Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, etc.). See French phonology | |
| Georgian[12] | ჯოხი / joxi | [ˈdʒɔxi] | 'stick' | ||
| German | Buch | [buːx] (help·info) | 'book' | See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek | τέχνη / téchnî | [ˈte̞xni] | 'art' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Hebrew | Biblical | מִיכָאֵל/micha'el | [mixaʔel] | 'Michael' | See Biblical Hebrew phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi | ख़ुशी/khushii/k͟hushī | [xʊʃiː] | 'happiness' | Only occurs in loanwords. Sometimes replaced in Hindi with /kʰ/. See Hindustani phonology |
| Urdu | ﺧﻮشی/khushii/k͟hushī | ||||
| Hungarian | sahhal | [ʃɒxːɒl] | 'with a shah' | See Hungarian phonology | |
| Icelandic | október | [ˈɔxtoːupɛr̥] | 'October' | See Icelandic phonology | |
| Indonesian | khas | [xas] | 'typical' | Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as [h] or [k] by some Indonesians. See Indonesian phonology | |
| Irish | deoch | [dʲɔ̝̈x] | 'drink' | See Irish phonology | |
| Japanese | マッハ / mahha | [maxːa] | 'Mach' | Allophone of /h/.[13] See Japanese phonology | |
| Kabardian | хы | [xəː] (help·info) | 'sea' | ||
| Kazakh | ханзада / hanzada | [xanzada] | 'prince' | ||
| Korean | 흥정 / heungjeong | [xɯŋd͡ʑʌ̹ŋ] | 'bargaining' | Allophone of /h/ before /ɯ/. See Korean phonology | |
| Kurdish | xanî | [xɑːˈniː] | 'house' | See Kurdish phonology | |
| Kurukh[14] | कुड़ुख़ | [kuɽux] | 'Kurukh' | Corresponds to /x/ in Brahui and /q/ in Malto. | |
| Limburgish[15][16] | loch | [lɔx] | 'air' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |
| Lishan Didan | Urmi Dialect | חלבא / xalwa | [xalwɑ] | 'milk' | Generally post-velar |
| Lithuanian | choras | [ˈxɔrɐs̪] | 'choir' | Occurs only in loanwords (usually international words) | |
| Lojban | xatra | [xatra] | 'letter' | ||
| Macedonian | Охрид / Ohrid | [ˈɔxrit] (help·info) | 'Ohrid' | See Macedonian phonology | |
| Malay | اﺧير / akhir | [axir] | 'last', 'end' | Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as [h] or [k]. See Malay phonology | |
| Manx | aashagh | [ˈɛːʒax] | 'easy' | ||
| Nepali | आँखा | [ä̃xä] | 'eye' | Allophone of /kʰ/. See Nepali phonology | |
| Norwegian | Urban East[17] | hat | [xɑːt] | 'hate' | Possible allophone of /h/ near back vowels; can be voiced [ɣ] between two voiced sounds.[17] See Norwegian phonology |
| Persian | دُخـتَر / dokhtar | [dox'tær] | 'daughter' | See Persian phonology | |
| Polish[18] | chleb | [xlɛp] | 'bread' | Also (in great majority of dialects) represented orthographically by ⟨h⟩. See Polish phonology | |
| Portuguese | Fluminense | arte | [ˈaxtɕi] | 'art' | In free variation with [χ], [ʁ], [ħ] and [h] before voiceless consonants |
| General Brazilian[19] | arrasto | [ɐ̞ˈxastu] | 'I drag' | Some dialects, corresponds to rhotic consonant /ʁ/. See Portuguese phonology | |
| Punjabi | Gurmukhi | ਖ਼ਬਰ/khabar | [xəbəɾ] | 'news' | |
| Shahmukhi | ﺧﺒر/khabar | ||||
| Romanian | hram | [xräm] | 'patronal feast of a church' | Allophone of /h/. See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian[20] | хороший / khoroshiy | [xɐˈr̠ʷo̞ʂɨ̞j] (help·info) | 'good' | See Russian phonology | |
| Scottish Gaelic[21] | drochaid | [ˈt̪ɾɔxɪtʲ] | 'bridge' | See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian | храст / hrast | [xrâːst] | 'oak' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Slovak | chlap | [xɫäp] | 'guy' | ||
| Somali | khad | [xad] | 'ink' | Occurs in predominantly Arabic loan words. Allophone of /q/. See Somali phonology | |
| Spanish[22] | Latin American[23] | ojo | [ˈo̞xo̞] | 'eye' | May be glottal instead;[23] in northern and central Spain it is often post-velar[23][24][25] or uvular /χ/.[25][26] See Spanish phonology |
| Southern Spain[23] | |||||
| Sylheti | ꠈꠛꠞ/khabar | [xɔ́bɔɾ] | 'news' | ||
| Tagalog | bakit | [baxit] | 'why' | Allophone of /k/ in intervocalic positions. See Tagalog phonology | |
| Toda[27] | pax | [pax] | 'smoke' | ||
| Turkish[28] | ıhlamur | [ɯxlamuɾ] | 'linden' | Allophone of /h/.[28] See Turkish phonology | |
| Turkmen | hile | [xiːle] | 'cunning' (noun) | ||
| Tyap | kham | [xam] | 1. 'calabash'; 2. 'prostitute' | ||
| Xhosa | rhoxisa | [xɔkǁiːsa] | 'to cancel' | ||
| Ukrainian | хлопець / chlopeć | [ˈxɫɔ̝pɛt͡sʲ] | 'boy' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Uzbek[29] | oxirgi | [ɒxirgi] | 'last' | Post-velar. Occurs in environments different than word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it is pre-velar.[29] | |
| Vietnamese[30] | không | [xəwŋ͡m˧] | 'no', 'not', 'zero' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
| Yaghan | xan | [xan] | 'here' | ||
| Yi | ꉾ / he | [xɤ˧] | 'good' | ||
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan[31] | mejor | [mɘxoɾ] | 'better' | Used primarily in loanwords from Spanish |
See also
Notes
- ^ Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19–20, 35–36 and 38.
- ^ a b Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), pp. 16 and 26.
- ^ Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), p. 16.
- ^ Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 100.
- ^ Ternes, Elmer; Vladimirova-Buhtz, Tatjana (1999). "Bulgarian". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0.
- ^ Verhoeven (2005:243)
- ^ a b c Collins & Mees (2003:191)
- ^ Gussenhoven (1999:74)
- ^ Annexe 4: Linguistic Variables
- ^ "University of Essex :: Department of Language and Linguistics :: Welcome". Essex.ac.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
- ^ Wells (1982:373)
- ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
- ^ Okada, Hideo (December 1991). "Japanese". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 21 (2): 94–96. doi:10.1017/S002510030000445X. S2CID 242782215. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 74.
- ^ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:159)
- ^ Peters (2006:119)
- ^ a b Vanvik (1979), p. 40.
- ^ Jassem (2003), p. 103.
- ^ Barbosa & Albano (2004), pp. 5–6.
- ^ Padgett (2003), p. 42.
- ^ Oftedal, M. (1956) The Gaelic of Leurbost. Oslo. Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap.
- ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
- ^ a b c d Chen (2007), p. 13.
- ^ Hamond (2001:?), cited in Scipione & Sayahi (2005:128)
- ^ a b Lyons (1981), p. 76.
- ^ Harris & Vincent (1988), p. 83.
- ^ Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 149.
- ^ a b Göksel & Kerslake (2005:6)
- ^ a b Sjoberg (1963), pp. 11–12.
- ^ Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
- ^ Merrill (2008), p. 109.
References
- Arvaniti, Amalia (2007), (PDF), Journal of Greek Linguistics, 8: 97–208, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.692.1365, doi:10.1075/jgl.8.08arv, archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-11
- Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
- Chen, Yudong (2007), A Comparison of Spanish Produced by Chinese L2 Learners and Native Speakers---an Acoustic Phonetics Approach, ISBN 9780549464037
- Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-9004103405
- Göksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005), Turkish: a comprehensive grammar, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415114943
- Gussenhoven, Carlos (1999), "Dutch", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 74–77, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0
- Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2): 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045
- Hamond, Robert M. (2001), The Sounds of Spanish: Analysis and Application, Cascadilla Press, ISBN 978-1-57473-018-0
- Harris, Martin; Vincent, Nigel (1988), "Spanish", The Romance Languages, pp. 79–130, ISBN 978-0-415-16417-7
- Hualde, José Ignacio; Ortiz de Urbina, Jon (2003), A Grammar of Basque, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-017683-4
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- Lyons, John (1981), Language and Linguistics: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-54088-9
- Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
- Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
- Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505, S2CID 13470826
- Peters, Jörg (2006), "The dialect of Hasselt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (1): 117–124, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002428
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- Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
- Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
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- Watson, Janet C. E. (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
- Wells, J.C. (1982), Accents of English 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
External links
- List of languages with [x] on PHOIBLE